Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
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(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
September, 2004
Judge Sutro Evicts Sick Elderly Man
81 Year Old Woman Evicted From Hospital
By Jim Scanlon
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At a brief ex parte hearing in June Superior
Court judge John A Sutro, after explaining that he was not heartless, and that
it was his duty to act fairly and responsibly to both sides ordered that a 67
year old man, who uses a wheel chair and suffers organ paralysis from multiple
sclerosis, be evicted from Marie Freitas Senior Housing in Terra Linda.
The judge took only testimony from a representative of Mercy Housing
Services, which manages the federally funded housing project not allow
testimony from the disabled elderly man who was present. The man's attorney,
Carl Shapiro who was representing him pro bono, without charge made a brief
statement but was interrupted by the judge when Shapiro said that putting the
man on the street was the equivalent to signing his death warrant.
The the eviction order is under appeal. It is postponed until
September 8 when the State Court of Appeals will decide whether the eviction
should be stayed pending the appeal which is expected to be heard in November
2004.
In a separate action, on August 19, judge Sutro, without comment,
authorized an attorney for Kaiser Permanente to proceed with the eviction and
dispossession of an 81 year old woman from the foundation's hospital in Terra
Linda. The woman's daughter was present at the ex parte hearing that was not
listed on the judge's calendar. He refused to allow the daughter to speak as
she was not a lawyer and had no standing in the court.
After ordering the eviction, the judge authorized Kaiser to seize
the woman's family home worth, perhaps, a half million dollars.
(More on both these cases, and perhaps others, next month)